Celebrating Maritime Heritage

Obituary

July 09, 2009

Regular TBTS reader and contributor Eric Cowell recently made us aware of the passing of a great name in sea shanties, Johnny Collins and has written the following obituary

JOHNNY COLLINS

Sail enthusiasts who love the sea shanties that are part of our island heritage will be sad to learn of the death on July 6th in Gdańsk, Poland, of Johnny Collins. He was there on a singing tour. Born in May 1938, Johnny was a London based, Norfolk born folk singer specialising in traditional maritime music`.

In 1983 Johnny with Jim Mageean, won the ‘Intervision Song Contest’ in Rostock, East Germany. In 1987 the duo were invited to perform at a sea shanty festival in Berlin commemorating the foundation of the city. Although recent health problems had caused him to restrict his activities he continued to tour world-wide. He had performed in the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Poland and France. In the UK he appeared at the Cutty Sark Tall Ships Races and maritime festivals, including Hull, Lancaster, Bristol, Dundee, Maldon, Portsmouth, Gosport, Greenwich and Chatham. A welcome singer at many maritime venues he made guest appearances in the USA, notably at Maine Maritime Museum, Kendall Whaling Museum, Newport News and Mystic Seaport. He was also the resident shantyman at ‘Expo 88 ‘ in Brisbane Australia.

I have happy memories of his lusty leading of impromptu shanty singing sessions in informal venues such as the bar at the National Folk Song Festivals. I feel privileged to have recorded Johnny in our studios as guest singer with The Mollyhawks, a shanty group from his own county of Norfolk. Those who worked with him will long remember his great good humour, his patience and especially that powerfully rich bass-baritone voice with its Norfolk accent. Like countless others, my life has been enriched by knowing him.

Shanty enthusiasts, tall ship devotees and his many friends and fans will miss Johnny Collins but none more than his partner Joyce.

January 20, 2009

Colin White, perhaps the greatest expert on Nelson, sadly died on Christmas Night. He was only 57. Colin was responsible for co-ordinating the 2005 national and international celebrations to mark the Bicentenary of the Battle of Trafalgar. He was based at the Royal Naval Museum in Portsmouth but was seconded for a time to the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich in preparation for becoming director of Royal Naval Museum in 2006. He was appointed visiting professor in maritime history by the University of Portsmouth who had earlier given him an honorary doctorate. He was made an honorary captain in The Royal Naval Reserve.

Colin White was born in 1951 in Kent and educated at Culford School near Bury St Edmunds. He began his lifelong passion for Nelson as a result of a schoolday visit to HMS Victory. After Culford he read history at Southampton and then war studies at King’s College London. He joined the Royal Naval Museum in 1975 as a research assistant. In his time with the Museum he published several books including The End of the Sailing Navy (1981), The Nelson Companion (1985), Nelson’s Year of Destiny (19980) The Nelson Encyclopedia (2002), and Nelson the Admiral (2005). Perhaps his most important book was Nelson:the New Letters (2006) which included more than 1000 new discoveries from Europe and even the USA. His outstanding scholarship was almost entirely devoted to Nelson, indeed he had been called the admirals “Representative on earth”. He was a lively and inspiring lecturer, ran some evocative seminars and, unstinting in his quest of history, was always ready to give his friends and colleagues help. His academic contributions to his subject are truly monumental. In addition, his projects to educate museum visitors to Nelson and Victory were spectacular. He will be missed but generations to come will owe much to his labours.